ria_oaks

My Bitchin' Buddy (from bitchin_party sent me this utterly gorgeous and phenomenal Sherlock vid. It's one of the best vids I've seen in awhile. Just so beautiful and perfect and flawlessly edited. Spoilers for Reichenbach Falls. Thank you BB, that was an awesome way to start my day!

Just watched the Chuck series finale (bit late, yeah... ^^)

Aww, I'm going to miss this show. :( It's been one of my constants for the past 5 seasons. I never got super passionate about it but I also always enjoyed it pretty much consistently, always looked forward to it every Monday (and then Friday...), and always waited nervously for it to get renewed or cancelled. In fact, the only two posts I have tagged 'Chuck' are just posts from May 2009 and May 2010 saying 'yay Chuck's renewed!'.

But yeah, for all that it was never as for me emotional as, say, Supernatural, I've always loved the characters and they got under my skin after 5 seasons. ( Cutting now for thoughts, feelings, and spoilers... )

It's strange to think I've never really posted about this show before. But if my tags are correct, I really haven't... yet I've watched it and looked forward to it consistently every week since it started. I'm going to miss it, quite a lot. There's not much left on TV that I'm all that invested in right now, other than Fringe and White Collar. Supernatural I am getting emotionally burnt out on and am a couple of eps behind now because I just... can't deal anymore. I will try to catch up, though. Need some distance I think. Am also behind on Glee, but that's always just been a fun show anyway, not one I'm that emotionally invested in. I miss Community, too. Sigh. Hope it comes back.

Anyway, thanks for a fun five years, Chuck Bartowski - I will miss thee... it's been good times. :) Ultimately I think I'm just happy that they decided to end it on their own terms in season 5, so there was no more renewal drama and no worries about cliffhangers or the show suddenly being pulled.

And now of course the real question is - what's next for Adam Baldwin? :) It's funny to think that, even though in a lot of ways he is still Jayne first to me, I know him way better as John Casey now. 14 eps + a movie versus 5 seasons. Go figure. Yet when I hear his name, I still think of Firefly first... anyway I'm looking forward to meeting him at Emerald City Comic Con. Haven't met him yet, so will probably splurge on a photo and an autograph. What the hell, eh?

(oh, and I totally want to go back now and watch the first episode of Chuck again. I haven't seen it since it first aired and barely remember it. Ickle!baby!adorable!nerdy!Chuck! Matt Bomer before he was Neal Caffrey! Good times.)

( One last spoilery thought )

Just finished watching Sherlock 2X03 (couldn't watch last night, ergh) and all I can say is: *FLAILY HANDS*

Not so coherent right now. Maybe later. :) Need to go download some Sherlock fanmixes so I have music to listen to while I flail.

(also, I literally just got around to finally reading The Final Problem before watching the episode, and though I didn't think it would actually matter that much to have read it - they really did have some awesome little references to it. Loved that. Just like how I finished reading Hound of the Baskervilles for the first time the night before that episode aired, and then proceeded to have a very enjoyable time recognizing all the references and ways they played with and interpreted the book)

What the heck, let's start this challenge and see if I remember to update the post...

2012 : 500 episodes in one year
As the title suggests this is a challenge to watch 500 episodes of TV shows in one year. The only rule is that if you watch a certain episode more than once in a year you can only list it again if you haven't already listed it for that month.

Rewatches are in blue.

For my sanity's sake, I'm not counting episodes of The Daily Show/Colbert Report... not sure if they'd count anyway. Just assume I'm watching most episodes of both every week. :)

( Under the cut )

Details about the challenge here.

Day One: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Drop a link to your post in the comments.

Technically speaking it's now day 2 (it's 1am as I'm writing this), but whatever. :)

All recent stuff, because the older art isn't as good imo...

1. My DSSS art from last year. I put a lot of effort into it and am pretty proud of it.

2. My DS/C6D Big Bang art from 2010. I was really proud of this, because it was one of the first (and few) times I've ever really done a full proper drawing with a background and composition.

3. Geoffrey Tennant portrait. It's not perfect, I know, but it's the first time I ever painted a full portrait on the computer and I was crazy proud of it when I finished.


Watching Buffy 2.03 'School Hard' with my cousin... oh Spike. <3 And Dru. Good times.

Rewatched the first ep of Sherlock tonight via Netflix on my shiny new flatscreen TV (which btw I am somewhat torn about, because on the one hand DVDs and such look great, especially my shiny new Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-Ray set, but regular TV looks worse than I expected it would... I should probably upgrade to getting HD channels, but then I'd have to trade in my poor old beloved TiVo (damn the lack of new TiVo in Canada!) and get a shitty Shaw PVR. So, conflicted. But it's nice and big and shiny at least!).

Anyway. Right, Sherlock - am preparing myself for the upcoming second season premiere on Sunday by rewatching the first season, since it's been almost a year and a half since it first aired (wow!). It's neat watching it again having just seen the new movie, since it's fun to compare the two adaptations. So different in so many ways, but they both work. I mean yeah the movies are pretty silly, but they're fun and the characters are basically recognizable even if they differ from the originals quite a bit. I'm also making it my goal to read more of the originals - I've only ever read the first story collection (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), and none of the novels. Dropped by the library last week and they only had Hound of the Baskervilles, which I picked up and finally got around to starting tonight. I forgot how funny the stories actually can be - I can definitely see where both new adaptations got various bits of characterization from, even as they changed the character as well.

Will probably re-watch eps 2 and 3 on Saturday and/or Sunday. Tomorrow night is Doctor Who Christmas special at Fontana's, woo! Already watched it the other day of course (very much enjoyed it!) but it'll be fun to watch with the gang.

Speaking of Christmas, it was great overall. ( Christmas ramblings )

ALSO, for my birthday my awesome Grandma made me this awesome Battlestar Galactica-inspired hat that I asked for since it's knitted and I only know crochet. Love it. :)

Anyway, on a random completely separate note (the actual reason I started this post, then I got side-tracked): meme time! Gacked from a few places.

( Meme under cut )

Ok, time for bed now...

First things first: OMG GUYS THE HOBBIT TRAILER. OMFG. I have shivers! I watched it a couple of hours ago with my cousins and now they're in bed and I put in my headphones to watch again, this time in HD, and OMG SHIVERS. I can't believe this movie actually exists now, for real! And Martin Freeman, so perfect! I need to re-read The Hobbit; I don't know it that well compared to LotR... will wait until later the year probably so it'll be fresh in my mind. Otoh, maybe not the best idea, lol, because then I'll notice the changes more. ^^ Kinda want to re-read LotR, too; it's been awhile. I asked for the Blu-Ray extended edition for Christmas to go with my Blu-Ray player and soon-to-come-shiny-new-flatscreen-TV. Haven't seen the extended editions of TTT/RotK for YEARS. Think I only saw them each once. Seen the theatrical editions more often, between seeing them in theatres (4 times for RotK ^^) and coming across them on TV.

ALSO: FANEXPO IS COMING TO VANCOUVER. FUCK YES. Can't wait for the guest list to start being announced. It's about time we had a proper media convention up here.

And on a vaguely related note...

( The TV Meme )

(also, WTF? I just went to comment in a community and the comment area is totally different. When did this change???)

ARGH. I JUST NOTICED ANOTHER MISTAKE IN MY SECRET SANTA. This wouldn't be so annoying except every time I DO see a mistake, I have to email the mods to re-upload the drawing. Which I've already done multiple times tonight. ARGH. I will fix it later this week, I can edit it until Saturday. Am going to painstakingly check everything and make sure there's nothing ELSE pressing to change.

*grumble* Here I thought I was done for the night, and was just happily reading a fic.. then a line in a fic made me realize my mistake. Oh fuck me. Maybe no one will notice. -_-

Due South Seekrit Santa: DONE!

Going to bed now. :)

(also thanks to those of you who came out today for my birthday - had a fun time at lunch and the movie. So much homoeroticism! Oh the UST...)

OMFG just finished season 3 of Fringe. And I could have SWORN I downloaded ep 4.01 but must have forgotten! GAAAAH. How did you people all wait 4 months?? What's with this show and crazy evil cliffhangers? Thank god I was binge watching - there have been some nasty ones... (end of Jacksonville, anyone? I looked it up after and couldn't believe there was a 2 month hiatus between that ep and 'Peter'! I could barely wait the few seconds for the next episode to start on my player. ^^ That was the Sunday before last, aka the day I watched 9 eps of s2 in a row because I just HAD to know what was going to happen, specifically re: Peter. Fastforward 1.5 weeks later and I'm done season 3... Anyway, I feel for people who were watching those eps as it aired; that must have been nasty. Ditto the end of season 2.)

...Why is 4.01 downloading at less than 300kb/s? WTF INTERNET. ;_; I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow night, aren't I...

Also, the s3 finale was the first ep of Fringe to make me cry. Yay! AND, I finally got to see the scene that I saw filming in downtown Vancouver months ago (very end of 3.21 and very start of 3.22). To think, I was just down the alley from Joshua Jackson, and couldn't fully appreciate it... plus it was really dark so even if I'd know the show at the time I probably couldn't have seen him. But still!

(on a more depressing note, I am deeply saddened and worried that NBC has pulled Community from its midseason schedule... what does 'removed for a short time' even mean? I hope it at least gets to finish off s3. I so desperately want it to get renewed because it's become easily one of my favourite shows, but it's not looking good.)

And I need to post more. Yeesh. Didn't I promise fannish creations well over a month ago? I still have them! And a couple more! I swear I keep meaning to post them.

On the plus side, I've made some good progress on my dS Seekrit Santa. Need to get moving though, still, because I have a vague schedule plotted out for working on it and I don't want to fall behind.

Something at work is stressing me the holy fuck out this week. Car rental companies are PURE EVIL. GAH. Am trying not to think about it and remain positive that it's going to work out...

Need to watch this week's H5-0 and Glee still... getting to it. Distracted by Fringe. Last week's Glee was epic awesomness and made me very happy for the first time in awhile. Once I'm done Fringe, time to get caught up on other things. Still need to finish True Blood (am halfway through season 4), and Castle (am at the start of season 3). And then... gotta find something else! Might try to catch up on Ringer, because I hear it's gotten quite good. I've only seen the first 1.5 episodes, and enjoyed them well enough, but got distracted.

Um. What else? I need to post Halloween photos! Halloween this year was amazing and awesome; best I've had in a long time. Party at Fontana's was fun as always, and most important was Thrill the World the next day! So great. We had 434 zombies dancing Thriller at the Roundhouse in Yaletown. :) It was a heck of an experience. Can't wait for next year! Plus I dressed up as Starbuck this year (and zombie!Starbuck for TTW), which was just plain fun.

I never posted about Hawaii either, did I? Jesus, that was over a month ago. It was great - jedinic and her friend and I had an awesome time. Short trip, and I got sick partway through, but still lots of fun! And warm! It's freezing in Vancouver now (I realize that 'freezing' in Vancouver is a relative term, but... it's a wet cold? ^^ Whatever, when it gets near 0 degrees here I just want to wrap myself in a blanket and never come out. And it was pouring today...). I want warmth again! And palm trees!

...Fringe 4.01 is still inching along and is at 16%. Boo. Tomorrow it is.

Also I've gotten hooked on a silly iPhone game called DragonVale. It's like Farmville (which I never played) but with dragons. You build a dragon themepark and raise dragons to attract more visits! It's pointless yet oddly compelling. I'm naming all my dragons after Harry Potter characters (the fire dragons are all Weasleys, heh). And was then disappointed when, having named by starting (Plant) dragon Harry, and later naming my Cold dragon Draco (it seemed to fit), I discovered that Cold and Plant dragons can't breed. Well, that's just unfortunate. ;) I bred the canon couples, anyway, and Harry/Hermione. Will breeding more ridiculous couples shortly. Need a Snape dragon... just gotta decide what type he is. Maybe Cold as well?

Yeah, I'm making up for lack of posting by making one big post that's basically about nothing. Sorry? I will strive to update more regularly in the future!

OH! And I don't think I posted about it yet (probably not), but I've registered for both Pacificon/bitchinparty and RCW139! Woo! Haven't figured out my plans for the latter at all (general thoughts that I want to do some travelling back east while I'm in Toronto so I can see some of the places in Ontario/Quebec that my company sells, because I've only been to Montreal/Quebec/Ottawa once and that was 10 years ago. Otoh, that also sounds kinda dull because I'll likely be alone. And the company probably won't pay for me since we just sent some employees on a fam to the same places, and it's really just a personal trip anyway. Still, if I'm flying all the way out to Toronto, I figure I ought to do SOMETHING other than go to the convention. Sometimes I really wish I could drive...)

...I should go to bed. Or maybe I'll use this newly rediscovered urge to post to actually post some fannish content. We'll see. ;)